1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of computerized on-line games. More specifically the present invention relates to an on-line photo identification game for game participants including photo submitting participants and photo identification participants. The subject shown in the photo is considered within a subject matter category, such as a type of bird or plant is in the photo, a city, a street, a building, a river or a mountain range anywhere in the world or a region of the world, an astronomical object, a heavenly body or a phenomenon, an agricultural disease in a crop, an insect or an animal, a dental condition of the oral cavity, a condition a type of historical a artifact, a antique or a fossil, or a postage stamp, a work of art, or a collectable coin. The game operates on the principle that collective intelligence, such as that provided by several photo identification participants, will most likely provide a highly reliable photo identification. The identification is in most instances simply a name of what is in the photo, but in some instances may be a fuller description of what is in the photo, as long as the description lends itself to ready comparison with other submitted photo identifications so that the concurrence with other photo identification participants can be determined readily such as by the website program. The identification may be in the form of or be supplemented by a stored text matched to the photo, referred to in this application as a textmatch. Where the photo is of part of a human body appearing to show a condition, the identification of what is in the photo is not a medical diagnosis, because the identification at most might be of one or more symptoms in the photo which may in the judgment of a doctor relate to any of a variety of different conditions. Therefore this remains an identification game, and never represents or substitutes for the judgment of a doctor in relation to a given patient and as a result does not constitute the practice of medicine.
The game includes the method steps of creating a website for the on-line game having a website program; receiving photos from on-line submitting participants relating to a certain topic or subject matter; the website copying the photos to on-line photo identification participants for identification; each photo identification participant submitting through the website his or her best evaluation and resulting identification of what is shown in the photo; the website determining the most common identification and optionally in addition determining the second most common identification of what is in the photo from the identifications submitted by the participating photo evaluation participants; and the website sending to the submitting participant of the given photo the most common and optionally in addition the second most common photo content identification. Game participants, particularly photo identification participants, may be required to be professionals in a given field who are credentialed by the website for game participation, or may be anyone believing they have knowledge of the given field or who simply wish to participate.
Another step is storing the photo and its identification(s) in a photo and text website database which for example may be called a wikiphotoatlas for future reference for educational and other uses. Further additional steps include matching explanatory text to the most or second most submitted identification for the given photo, the text preferably being drawn from the website database, and sending this matched text to the photo submitting participant who supplied the given photo to further educate him or her about what is in their photo.
These steps, in themselves, define the essence of the present game. While the steps which follow add the element of competition, but according to WIKIPEDIA™, the present method defines a game with or without them:
“Key components of games are goals, rules, challenge and interaction. Games generally involve mental or physical stimulation, and often both. Many games help develop practical skill . . . or otherwise perform an educational, simulational or psychological role.”
The submitting participants and the photo identification participants may be the same people, and all participants receive points for their participation so that a winner can be determined or compensation can be awarded, or both. Points may be granted for submitting a photo for identification, for participating in a photo identification and for submitting an identification of a photo that the website determines is among the most common for the given and optionally receiving points for submitting an identification of a photo that the website determines is among the second most common for the given photo, since concurrence with a majority is considered an indication of a correct or well considered identification. Points may also be granted for editing text stored in the photo and text data base.
2. Description of the Prior Art
What has been missing in the art is an expertly guided information service via the Internet for the Internet and global community.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a website and website program in which a photo identification game can be played, one example of which involves a computer program in which one or more photos and information are conveyed to several experts selected through either testing their of knowledge of the subject matter category of the game or through credentialing as professionals who have registered and become photo identifying players from a customer who has provided the photo(s) taken by either him or herself or another person for the purpose of seeking information about the subject matter depicted in the photo(s), and thus is the first expertly or professionally guided search engine using collective or group intelligence.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a computer program in which the identification of the image shown in the photo may consist of simply providing a name for the subject matter shown in the photo, or matching the subject matter shown in the photo with explanatory text, or both.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide such a computer program in which the exchange of information is not in any way limited by the ability of the lay person or customer to recognize, describe and match the subject of his or her photo with that of a website image or description.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide such a computer program which encompasses most if not all published information about a subject matter category.
It is a still further object of the present invention to facilitate discussion for the open exchange of information and to promote education and academics.
It is a yet further object of the present invention to provide such a computer program which allows for the publication of a real time wiki atlas using the photographs identified by the group of photo identifying players and pertinent text written by the group of photo identifying players.
It is finally an object of the present invention to provide such a computer program which is easy to use and of maximum reliability via several different electronic media portals.